Migrant bill splits GOP in Arizona

Bush, Kyl, McCain push border measure

Dissension among conservatives intensified Monday as the Arizona Republican Party struggled to hold itself together amid the opening of U.S. Senate talks on immigration reform.

Protesters gathered outside the central Phoenix office of Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, keeping a vigil that was heavy on American flags and calls of treason.

State GOP Chairman Randy Pullen came out against the bipartisan immigration deal, putting himself and the party "base" he said he represents at odds with three of the proposal's pre-eminent backers: President Bush and Republican Sens. John McCain and Kyl.

By Monday evening, Pullen e-mailed an "action alert" to Republican supporters that declared "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Near Death!" The Senate postponed further action on the issue until June.

Emblematic of recent days' events, the state GOP reported that more than two dozen Republicans have come to Phoenix headquarters and changed party registration, some literally throwing their registration cards in disgust.

"It's bad," state GOP spokesman Brett Mecum said of the party rancor. "We have people who are quitting the party left and right over this legislation."

At the heart of the uproar are the immigration bill's hundreds of pages. They would both toughen border security and provide a temporary worker program and path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants already living on U.S. soil. As the state with the most illegal border crossings in recent years, Arizona has loomed large in the debate.

Kyl was intimately involved in brokering the bill, and McCain's fingerprints are there, as well, given his history with border reform.

The two men are Arizona's highest-ranking Republicans, Kyl fresh off his landslide re-election and McCain on a presidential run. Now, their party credentials are in doubt among some Republicans.

"Kyl ran for re-election, saying he was tough on immigration," said Randy Cone, a member of the Mohave County Minutemen who was among those protesting outside the senator's Phoenix office. "He says that to get elected, and then he turns around and stabs in the back everyone who got him elected. We're here to let him know we're not going to let him get away with it."

The two senators are standing together on the immigration bill, with McCain on Friday telling The Arizona Republic, "I could not be more proud of Jon Kyl than I am today or yesterday."

Kyl said he saw little choice but to participate in the immigration bill's negotiation, given the disrepair of the nation's immigration policy and the likelihood that what he called "a really bad bill" would be created without his help.

He also hasn't been surprised by the reaction to the proposal, noting the involvement of a certain famed Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

"Anytime you put yourself with Ted Kennedy," Kyl said Friday, "you're going to catch it from a lot of Arizona constituents."

Kyl, in meetings much of the day in Washington, D.C., had little to say about the political imbroglio back home.

But it was a focal point of a news conference called Monday by Pullen. He explained his unusual decision to oppose the bill brought by two of his party's leading elected officials, saying the response to the bill among Arizona Republicans has been overwhelmingly negative.

To illustrate that, he held up a hand-drawn letter received by the state GOP. Its message was unmistakable: a drawing of a hand, its middle finger extended.

"This is the outlook many of our Republican faithful are feeling right now about the Republican Party," Pullen said.

Should the Kyl bill pass into law, Pullen surmised that "some percentage of conservative Republicans would clearly choose not to engage in next year's elections."

Republican political consultant Nathan Sproul called Pullen's opposition as chairman to his party's president and two sitting senators on such a key issue "absolutely unprecedented."

"I've never seen anything like it," he said.

Said Sproul, "As a party chairman, it's his job to elect and support Republicans."

Don Goldwater, a leading voice among Republicans who favor a border crackdown, conceded that the party dissension could hurt the GOP when it comes to Arizona congressional races next year.

But this exercise also could prove valuable, he said, if it rouses regular Republicans and leads to a party reckoning on immigration policy.

For that reason, the nephew of former Sen. Barry Goldwater asked that those angry with the Kyl bill not toss their voter ID cards just yet.

"This is the best time to be with the party, to shape the party," he said. "Everybody needs to stand up and be counted."